


Those Extra Peppers

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [70]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: 201 AG, Aging, F/F, Fluff, Korrasami Week 2017, Talking, kitchen shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-03 18:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12151977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: “I got some rice, some raw vegetables, some peppers, some eggs, a bit of... um... hmm.”“How are you going to cook eggs and vegetables without a kitchen?”“I was just realizing that.”





	Those Extra Peppers

_[Fanart courtesy of tuherrus](http://tuherrus.tumblr.com/post/174653341972/maybe-i-got-over-it-then-maybe-i-spent-so-much) _

 

“Whelp!” Korra said after her stomach rumbled, “time to whip up some grub.”

Asami crinkled her nose, laughing as her wife hopped out of bed and pulled on a robe. “I thought you went to the market earlier.”

“I did!” She hoisted the basket of supplies, setting it atop the dresser in their hostel room. Sure, they could've afforded to stay somewhere swankier, but something about the low-key trip really suited their moods, right now. They'd been big public figures their whole lives—traveling on the cheap was surprisingly adventurous. “I got some rice, some raw vegetables, some peppers, some eggs, a bit of... um... hmm.”

“How are you going to cook eggs and vegetables without a kitchen?”

“I was just realizing that,” Korra frowned, and Asami flopped onto her side, laughing.

Korra's stomach squealed again, which only made Asami laugh harder. “What now? Your boiled bubble trick”

Korra snapped her fingers. “I have a better idea! I'll be right back.”

“Ah—” Asami reached after her, but not in time to stop her wife from leaving their room wearing nothing but a barely-tied bathrobe. Asami bit her lip—hopefully whatever Korra was thinking wouldn't be too... acrobatic.

Though Korra had proven to her she was nearly as capable of acrobatics as she had been twenty years ago. Asami smiled. Korra had winced a few times, but nothing had slowed her down. Asami wasn't sure anything ever would.

Herself, though...

Asami sighed.

Korra returned a minute later, carrying a hot plate, a pan, and a wooden spoon. “Borrowed these from the neighbor! Mr. Sung, nice man.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. Didn't even have to name drop. Though I did tell him we're newlyweds.”

Asami snorted. “I guess you're not wrong. He bought that?”

“Heck yeah! I think he likes the idea that people our age can still find love, you know?”

People our age. Right. “How'd you know somebody would have one?”

“I saw him going into his room yesterday, he didn't even look where he was going, just went right to it. That means he's been here a while. I met quite a few people like that, when I was on walkabout. Usually they were down on their luck, doing the best they could, living job to job... but they were some of the most generous people I ever met, too.”

Asami sat up, looking at her wife. Her twice-wife. Doublewife? “You don't talk about that time much.”

Korra shrugged, setting up the hotplate and sorting through her ingredients. “At this point, that was six months of nearly fifty years? Over half my life ago? I mean... I was pretty miserable that whole time.”

Asami nodded. “True... dwelling on 1% of your life is probably not the best idea.”

Korra quirked an eyebrow. “1%? You did the math?”

“It's _really_ basic math, Korra.”

Korra snickered. “Sure, ya big nerd. But yeah, I wouldn't say it really _bothers_ me, and I did learn a lot about the world, then. But... that was such a long time ago.”

Asami got to her feet, and wrapped her arms around Korra's midsection. “Thank you for marrying me again. You romantic dork.”

Korra purred, leaning back into her. “Of course. But now, the question is... how many peppers do you want in your dinner?”

“Ah, none.”

“None? You always loved Painted Peppers, and these are fresh!”

“I appreciate that, but... if you hadn't noticed, I've kinda cut back on the spicy things...” She shifted, her grip on Korra loosening.

“Why?” Korra asked.

“Because I just don't digest them that well anymore!”

Korra held Asami's arms in place. Asami hadn't meant to raise her voice, and blushed to realize she had. “Do you want to talk about this?” Korra asked.

Asami buried her forehead against Korra's shoulder. “About what? The fact that we're getting old?”

“We're not old yet. Lin was still police chief at our age, remember? And she didn't get into politics until even later, and look at how much she got done?”

“I know,” Asami said, squeezing her wife, pulling up her head and resting her chin in the crook of Korra's neck. “I know all that. Don't you think I've ran through this again and again and again?”

“I _know_ you have,” Korra said with an audible smile. “That's what you do.”

Asami frowned. “Why bring Lin up? You're _not_ thinking I should run for office!?”

“ _Spirits_ , no!” Korra laughed. “I've had so much more of you to myself since you stepped back from running the company yourself, like heck I'd give that up!”

“Well... good!” Asami said, settling back against her.

The hot plate had heated up enough that Asami's hands could feel it. She unraveled herself from Korra, sitting back on the bed, and draping a blanket over herself.

Korra moved to the vegetables, but looked at her. “What are you afraid of? About getting old?”

Asami shrugged. “Maybe, I should ask, why _aren't_ you afraid? I remember, after Katara's funeral, you got caught up in the thought of one of us dying...”

Korra nodded, and started chopping the veggies. “Maybe I got over it then. Maybe I spent so much time after Zaheer contemplating my own mortality, that the prospect of slowly, even gracefully aging with somebody I love just doesn't seem so bad?”

Asami smirked. “Gracefully?”

“Hey,” Korra said, pointing the paring knife at her. “Watch it, Miss Sass.”

“That's Mrs. Sass,” Asami said, displaying the two rings on her finger.

Korra chuckled. “When I was younger, I was so... so worried, all the time. About how to be the Avatar, about what that meant in the world that kept changing too fast for me to keep in balance. What people wanted of me, as a woman, as a Southerner, as the Chief's daughter, as your wife. As somebody who'd been through... what I went through. All of that. And at some point, I just realized... that's all for me to decide. I don't have to be anybody else's idea of 'Korra,' I just had to be the best me I could.”

“So you just... stopped caring?” Asami frowned. “Korra, you care more than anyone I know.”

Korra smiled, scooping the veggies into the pan. She was quiet through their initial hiss, stirring them thoughtfully. “There's a lot I can do for the world, and you're right, I care a lot about that. But there's a lot I can't do, too. You know how you've been calling Tsu Ying pretty regularly?”

Asami nodded, eyes downcast. What else could she do?

“I've been calling Naoki.”

She looked up, stunned. That Korra had gone that far out of her way. That she hadn't thought to check on Mako and Tsu Ying's daughter herself. She'd always asked about her, but... but she was so much younger than...

She really was getting old, wasn't she?

“She didn't want to talk to me at first,” Korra said. “Then, for a while, all she wanted to do was yell. She blamed me, for not being fast enough. For letting the rebellion get as far as it did. And... I guess that's part of what I'm talking about. I let her yell, I let her say what she needed to, but I know Mako would never have blamed me for what happened. I wish I'd been there, of course, but I just... don't spend time dwelling on what else I could've done, anymore.”

“I'm not worried about what could have been,” Asami said, pulling her legs up next to her. “I'm worried... I'm losing control. I can't even eat what I want anymore!”

Korra sat the spoon down, turned, and wrapped Asami in a hug. “It's not about controlling everything, Asami. It's about focusing on what you _really_ care about.”

She sat on the bed, holding Asami's hands. “So you can't have spicy food anymore? You can take time off whenever you want, and we can visit our kids. Or any of our friends. Or anywhere you just want to go. We can do that.”

She brought Asami's hands up, kissing the back of them. “Or, you can stay at work, and build anything you want. Asami, you have more freedom and control than you've ever _had_. Don't focus on what you're losing. Focus on everything we have left to do together. I mean... I feel creaky in the joints, too. I'm a bit frayed around the edges. But Asami...”

Korra looked into Asami's eyes.

“Every year of my life has been better than the last, ever since we got together. You mean so much to me. I just... I really hope you can feel that, too.”

Asami gingerly took one of her hands from Korra's, but only to wipe her own eyes. “I... Korra, that's a beautiful way to look at things. I think... I think maybe, that helps.”

“Good,” Korra said, tracing the path on Asami's face she'd just wiped her tears from.

Asami didn't break the stare, but her nose still worked, too. “Maybe this is one of those small details you've learned not to let bother you, but our dinner is burning.”

Korra yelped, and bounced off the bed.

“I wonder,” Asami said, as Korra nodded, reassured the meal wasn't ruined, “those extra peppers... maybe Mr... Sung, was it? Might like them? If he's all alone over there, like you said...”

Korra smiled. “Want to get dressed, and keep him company for a while?”

Asami smiled. She was nearly fifty, and there was still so much of the world she didn't know. Maybe life wasn't like it used to be.

But there were still so many new things it _could_ be. “Yeah. Yeah I think I would.”

 

 


End file.
